Thursday, December 8, 2016

Immaculate Conception, 12-8-16

While I was
in the car the other day, I heard the Beatles’ song “Let It Be.”It made me think of today’s feast.If you are a Boomer like me, you probably
remember that the song starts: “When I find myself in times of trouble, Mother
Mary comes to me, speaking works of wisdom, ‘Let it be.’”

Music
historians are clear that Paul McCartney did not write this as a religious
song.It is about his deceased mother
(Mary) who came to him in a dream while he was dealing with personal
turmoil.She advised him not to worry
because everything would work out well.

Be that as
it may, the song echoes the docility of Mary who acquiesces to the mysterious
will of God.Could she foresee all the
ramifications of her “yes.”I doubt
it.Yet her faith led her to exclaim, “Let
it be done to me according to your word.”

I don’t
know if archangels ever retire, but it would be helpful to us if Gabriel were a
little more active.If he or another
angel were to tell us “this is God’s will for you”; I would like to think that
most of us would respond, “let it be done.”The problem for us is that we are not always able to discern which
situations are God-ordained and which situations are, in a favorite phrase of
one of our friars, “not of God.”That
makes it difficult for us to know whether we should accept or resist.

As we daily
pray “thy kingdom come, thy will be done,” let us pray also for the gift of discernment,
that, as St. Paul said, we might “discern what is the will of God, what is good
and pleasing and perfect.” (Romans 12:2)Then: “Let it be done!”